Monday, July 28, 2014

In some ways, the Thai student rebellion of 1973 mirrored
student rebellions around the world that began with “The Prague Spring,” in
1968. I was briefly a part of this more militant approach at changing the status
quo, in California,
in 1970, and wrote about it in my book Sunshine Revolutionaries,
aka “Don’t Bank On
Amerika.”

The events of October 1973 amounted to a revolution in Thai
politics. For the first time the urban middle class, led by the students, had
challenged the ruling junta,
and had gained the apparent blessing of the king for a transition to real
democracy. The leaders of the junta were forced to step down and took refuge in
the United States and Taiwan.

Thailand,
however, had not yet produced a political class able to make this bold new
democracy function smoothly. The January 1975 elections failed to produce a
stable party majority, and fresh elections in April 1976 produced the same
result. The veteran politician Seni Pramoj
and his brother Kukrit Pramoj alternated in power, but were unable to
carry out a coherent reform program. The sharp increase in oil prices in 1974
led to recession and inflation, weakening the government's position. The
democratic government's most popular move was to secure the withdrawal of American
forces from Thailand.
Significantly, the communist insurgency in Thailand, led by the Thai communist
party, gradually became more active in the countryside, allying with urban
intellectuals and students.

Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia fell to communist forces in 1975. The threat of the
communists in the neighboring countries soon led to a mild panic among Thai people. The
arrival of communist regimes on Thailand’s
borders, the abolition of the 600-year-old Lao monarchy, and the arrival of
a flood of refugees from Laos
and Cambodia swung public
opinion in Thailand
back to the right, and conservatives did much better in the 1976 elections than
they had done in 1975.

By late 1976, moderate middle class opinion had turned away
from the activism of the students, with their base at Thammasat University. The army and the
right-wing parties began a propaganda war against student liberalism by
accusing student activists of being 'communists' and through formal
paramilitary organizations such the Village Scouts and the Red Gaurs
many of those students were killed. Matters came to a head in October when
former Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn returned to Thailand
to enter a royal monastery, Wat Bovorn.

Tension between workers and factory owners became fierce, as
the civil right movement became more active after 1973. Socialism and
leftist ideology gained popularity among intellectuals and the working class.
The political atmosphere became even more tense. Workers were found hung in Nakhon
Pathom after protesting against a factory owner. A Thai version of
anti-communist McCarthyism
spread widely. Whoever staged a protest could be accused of being part of a
communist conspiracy.

In 1976, students in ThammasatUniversity
held protests over the violent deaths of the two workers hung in Nakhon
Pathom. They staged a mock hanging of the two, one of whom bore a
resemblance to the Crown Prince. Some newspapers the following day, including
the Bangkok
Post, published a version of a “doctored” photo (what we would call in this
day and age as “photoshopped”), suggesting that the students had committed lese
majeste (criticism of the Thai Monarchy, which is still against the law).
Rightist and ultra-conservative icons such as Samak Sundharavej blasted
the students, instigating violent means to suppress the movement of the
students, culminating on October 6, 1976.

The army unleashed its unofficial and clandestine
paramilitaries. Subsequently, the army used the resultant mob violence, in
which hundreds of students were tortured and killed, to suspend the
constitution and resume power. Immediately after the incident, an amnesty was
issued to soldiers to prevent any of those responsible for the massacre from
coming to justice.

In the evening, a junta staged a coup, declaring the end of
the Democrat
Party led-coalition government. The army installed Thanin Kraivichien, an ultra-conservative former
judge, as prime minister, and carried out a sweeping purge of the universities,
the media and the civil service. Thousands of students, intellectuals and other
leftists fled Bangkok and joined the Communist Party's insurgent forces in
the north and north-east (Isaan), operating from safe bases in Laos.
Others left for exile, including Dr. Puey
Ungphakorn, the respected economist and Rector of Thammasat University.

(Photos we took in 2010 of the area of Phu Chan where communist insurgents had a base camp not an hour away from our village, back in the late 1970s, earliest '80s)

The economy was also in serious difficulties, in no part due
to Thanin's policies, which frightened foreign investors.

The new regime proved as unstable as the democratic
experiment had been. In October 1977 a different section of the army staged
another "coup" and replaced Thanin with General Kriangsak Chomanand. In 1978 the government
offered an amnesty to Thai communists willing to "work with us to build a
prosperous nation".[1]
The offer included housing, family reunion and security.[1]

By this time, Thai forces had to deal with the situation
resulting from the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia. There was another flood
of refugees, and both Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge
forces periodically crossed into Thai territory, sparking clashes along the
borders. A 1979 visit to Beijing earned Deng
Xiaoping's agreement to end support for Thailand's
communist movement; in return, the Thai authorities agreed to give safe haven
to the Khmer
Rouge forces fleeing west following the invasion of Cambodia.

Revelations of the tremendous crimes of the defeated Khmer Rouge
also sharply reduced the appeal of communism to the Thai public. With no one he
could blame, Kriangsak's position as prime minister soon became untenable and
he was forced to step down in February 1980 at a time of economic troubles.
Kriangsak was succeeded by the army commander-in-chief, General Prem
Tinsulanonda, a staunch royalist with a reputation for being incorruptible.

In 1979-88, Vietnamese occupation forces in Kampuchea
made incursions into Thai territory, often seeking rebel guerrillas supposedly
hidden in refugee camps (where many Laotians
and Vietnamese refugees had also settled).[1]
Sporadic skirmishes continued along the border. From 1985 to 1988, Vietnamese
troops in Kampuchea
periodically made raids to wipe out Khmer Rouge
border camps in Thailand,
which remained, along with China,
major supporters of Khmer Rouge resistance.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Although the Thai absolute
monarchy was abolished in 1932 and a constitutional monarchy
instituted in what was the country’s first coup d’etat, the Democracy
Movement did not begin until the late 1960s with Thai student
demonstrations calling for changes in the military government of Field Marshal
Thanom Kittikachorn. These started in 1968 and grew in size and numbers in the
early 1970s despite the continued official ban on political meetings.

In June 1973, nine Ramkhamhaeng University students were
expelled for publishing an article in a student newspaper that was critical of
the government. Shortly after, thousands of students held a protest at the Democracy Monument, in Bangkok, demanding the re-enrollment of the
nine students. The government ordered the universities to shut, but shortly
afterwards allowed the students to be re-enrolled.

In October 1973, another 13 students were arrested on charges of
conspiracy to overthrow the government. This time the student protesters were
joined by workers, businessmen and other ordinary citizens. The demonstrations
swelled to several hundred thousand and the issue broadened from the release of
the arrested students to demands for a new constitution and the replacement of
the current government.

On October 13, the government released the detainees.
Leaders of the demonstrations, among them Seksan
Prasertkul, called off the march in accordance with the wishes of the King
who was publicly against the democracy movement. In a speech to graduating
students, he criticized the pro-democracy movement by telling students to
concentrate on their studies and leave politics to their elders [military
government].

As the crowds were breaking up the next day, on October 14,
many students found themselves unable to leave because the police had attempted
to control the flow of the crowd by blocking the southern route to Rajavithi Road.
Cornered and overwhelmed by the hostile crowd, the police responded with
teargas and gunfire.

The military was called in, and tanks rolled down Rajdamnoen Avenue and
helicopters fired down at Thammasat University. A number of students
commandeered buses and fire engines in an attempt to halt the progress of
deployed tanks by ramming into them. With chaos on the streets, King Bhumibol opened
the gates of Chitralada Palace to the students who were being
gunned down by the army. Despite orders from Thanom that the military action be
intensified, army commander Kris Sivara had the army withdrawn from the streets.

The King condemned the government's inability to handle the
demonstrations, ordered Thanom, Praphas, and Narong to leave the country, and
notably condemned the students' supposed role as well. At 06:10 p.m., Field
Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn resigned from his post as Prime Minister. An hour
later, the King appeared on national television, asking for calm, and
announcing that Thanom had been replaced with Dr. Sanya
Dharmasakti, a respected law professor, as prime minister.

(The Democracy Monument in Bangkok, built in 1940 to commemorate the fall of the absolute monarchy in 1932, was the scene of massive demonstrations in 1973, 1976, 1992 and 2010).

Friday, July 18, 2014

The Wikipedia coverage of the “2014 Thai Coup”
appears pretty accurate except that it left out the fact that the latest
political developments not only come out of failures of the Yingluck Shinawatra
government, but has its roots in the problems incurred in previous governments
lead by her brother Taksin
Shinawatra.

I believe the
coup is generally considered a good thing by most Thai people, no matter
their political party, both for the stability it brings and the reforms it has
pledged to bring about. Yet, the coup is poorly understood by Western
governments. I was actually amazed at the United States’ response decreeing
that the coup is a threat to Thai democracy. Here we have a country (the U.S.)
that, on paper and in many ways is a democracy, but fundamentally
operates as an oligarchy.
It’s like that expression: “the pot
calling the kettle black.”

Of course, family
and friends were concerned about me especially at the very launch of the coup,
but, really we have been little affected by it and the military has moved
swiftly to try to correct some glaring wrongs, including the infamous Rice
Pledging Scheme.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Songkran is the Lao and Thai New Year. It begins in mid-April and is officially a few days long, but khon Thai usually stretch it out to about
a work week and two weekends.

Even if you had no idea what time of year it is, you would
know when it is Songkran
in Thailand.
A tell-tale sign is a noticeable increase in the number of people packed in
truck beds, visiting relatives and friends and “vacationing.” Teenagers and
young adults with backpacks whom you’ve never seen before will walk into the
village quietly. These are the kids who have been away at school and are
returning home for what amounts to an annual reuniting of all Thai families – kaupkua.

When Somkran
gets under way, you absolutely know it by the number of kids on the side of
roads throwing water at passers by; not just kids, either. It is traditional
for everyone to at least sprinkle water on relatives and friends.

And not even traffic police are exempt from a dousing (that’s
white powder that’s also been applied presumably by passersby, which is also traditional):

When Thai
New Year gets into full swing, you can also tell it’s that time of year
because some Kon Thai get absolutely, positively “drunk as a skunk” is
the expression I grew up with. There are many other expressions for it. It
translates: stay away from these people.

It’s in large part because of the extreme imbibing of
alcohol that each Thai New Year, I retreat further and further into the back
reaches of our home and properties. I mean, I’ve been no shining example of sobriety,
myself, and there are stories told. But, at age 65, I like to think that I’ve
learned a thing or two.

“Been There, Done That.”

A further reach into our home: Thip's stove, back kitchen:

(Rice cooker on left, wok in middle. On the right: wooden plate for spreading
and cooling the sticky rice; bamboo rice containers on extreme right; water jugs
and Beer Chang under the counter)

Monday, July 7, 2014

At the end of my first year retired in Northeastern
Thailand (2012), I decided my favorite time of year was after Ohpensa
(the end of Buddhist lent or Vassa)
and the rice
harvest. I like this time of year because of the cooling temperatures and
the end of the Monsoon Season.

Now that I’ve completed my second year and working on my
third (2014), however, I’ve changed my mind. My most favorite time in the Isaan
is the very short springtime (Feb-Mar) and on into the beginning of summer
(Apr-May), before the rains really get going. Even though these later two
months are the hottest
months of the year, it is not the heat that bothers me.

It’s the nyoong.

Yeah, you’ve read me complaining
about mosquitoes before and it is certainly true that these insects are my
enemies – I think my only ones, although they are formidable.

The nice thing about February thru May is that it is so dry,
there are very few areas of standing water for the nyoong to breed in.
The period of rapid heating-up (Feb-Mar) and the
hottest months of the year (Apr-May) are virtually mosquito-free. I love
it!

Here’s some shots of our downstairs living room:

Looking inside from the front doorway: our seldom used dining
table (because we’re outside most all the time); book shelf/cupboard and closet
in the background, and the doorway to the kitchen
beyond that.

Panning left from the doorway: Our seldom-used bamboo bed (we sleep upstairs) Thip
got to take care of her mother. Family likes to have Khun
Mae stay at the family house, so she is rarely here and never overnight. Also
visible: windows and doors to bathroom and
closet/laundry
room.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

As the Thai
Consulate in Savannakhet
takes applications in the morning of one day and then issues visas the
following day, in the afternoon, I had a fair amount of killing time to do,
waiting to pick mine up that afternoon. I suppose I could have gone and seen
some of the city’s sights, but I’m not a very good tourist, really. My head’s
just in a different space. I’d rather try to engage people than view “objects”
– ah, except if they’re female and pretty!

I logged some more Internet time and hung around the
riverside vendors area. I was approached by more than one manicurist wanting to
do my finger and toe nails. Sometimes they were very persistent. I think some
sell sex on the side, too.

After I got my one year Thai visa that afternoon, I was left
with a major choice to make: continue south or go back home?

My original plan had been to continue south to Pakse, Champasak and the Thousand Islands area
of Southern Lao.
This would have put me smack dab in the middle of the tourist track and I
wasn’t looking forward to that; after already being in Lao for nearly a week. I
was tired, so that night I did another short evening at the Savankhaimkhong
and, next day, headed back home.

I was back in my village before nightfall that same day,
completing a full week's trip.